Phil's hand clamped around my wrist like a vice.
"Are you done making a scene, Serena?"
"I already told you the position of Mrs. Gilbert is still yours. What more do you want?"
"Do you really have to make this so ugly?"
I stared at the two of them, at their shameless, self-righteous faces, and felt nothing but revulsion.
I was about to leave when my phone erupted inside my bag, buzzing frantically.
It was the hospital.
I wrenched my wrist free from Phil's grip and hit answer.
A nurse's panicked voice flooded through the speaker.
"Are you Dorothy Abbott's family?"
"Dorothy just suffered a massive stroke. She's being resuscitated right now!"
"Her condition is extremely critical. Please come to City Central Hospital immediately to authorize treatment and handle payment!"
My mind went blank. A high-pitched ringing filled my skull, and the blood drained from my body in a single, sickening rush.
Grandma had always been healthy. Strong as an ox. How could she have a stroke out of nowhere?
I asked the nurse what happened, my voice shaking so badly I barely recognized it.
The nurse sighed, her tone heavy with helplessness.
"The elderly lady collapsed while looking at her phone."
"The screen was still lit when we found her. It looked like she'd been reading a social media post."
"We didn't look too closely at the content. It seemed like just an ordinary vacation photo..."
A social media post?
While I stood there trembling, Clarissa let out a sharp gasp from behind Phil.
"Grandma's hurt? How could this happen..."
"Phil, this is all my fault... While I was waiting for you two, I posted a set of photos from our trip to the Maldives. A whole grid of them, with a caption..."
"I could've sworn I blocked everyone in Serena's family from seeing it. But maybe... maybe I accidentally missed Grandma."
The moment those words left her mouth, every piece fell into place.
She'd deliberately blocked me from seeing the post but conveniently left it visible to the one person I loved most in this world. My grandmother. The woman who had been counting down the days to our marriage registration. The woman who treasured Phil like her own grandson.
Seeing those photos would have destroyed her.
I locked my gaze on Phil and Clarissa, and every word I spoke came out low and razor-edged.
"If anything happens to my grandmother, I will make you both pay with your lives."
Phil froze. In that split second of stunned silence, I shoved him aside and stormed out of the registration office without looking back.
The moment I collapsed into the back seat of a cab, every wall I'd built crumbled.
I pressed both hands over my face, but the broken, muffled sobs tore out of me anyway, filling the small space of the car with a grief I couldn't swallow down.
Grandma was the only family I had left in this world.
My parents died when I was young. She raised me alone, collecting recyclables to keep us fed and clothed.
Years later, when Phil's startup nearly went under because his funding chain collapsed, it was Grandma who handed over her life savings to pull him through.
And now the man she'd loved like her own grandson had pushed her to the brink of death.
The cab screeched to a halt outside City Central Hospital.
I sprinted toward the emergency building.
The red light above the resuscitation room was still on. I pressed my back against the cold wall and prayed in silence, begging whatever force would listen to let her be okay.
More than ten minutes crawled by before a rush of footsteps echoed down the corridor.
I lifted my head slowly.
Phil and Clarissa were hurrying toward me.
Phil's chest heaved with each breath, his face flushed from running. He looked like he'd sprinted the whole way.
He stopped in front of me and pulled a bank card from his pocket, holding it out.
"Clarissa told me everything. She didn't do it on purpose. She just forgot to set the privacy filter when she posted."
"Grandma's always been in great health. She just got a little worked up, that's all. Stop blowing this out of proportion."
"There's three million dollars on this card. Consider it Clarissa's compensation, plus full repayment with interest for the five years you sponsored her."
